Law no. 62/2020 on the application of facilities for the payment of rent for the period related to the state of emergency was published in the Official Gazette with number 425 of May 21, 2020.
In essence, the law will bring about a radical change in the number of people who can benefit from the rent deferral facility, in the sense that any company, practitioner of the liberal professions and any individual will be able to request this postponing.
In order for Law no. 62 to become accessible, the document needs application norms.
The statutory provision stipulates that the companies will be able to request the postponement of the rents for headquarters and work points, including until the month after the one in which the state of emergency ceased. Since the state of emergency ended this month, the facility will be available until June 30, 2020.
The period for which the payment of rent can be postponed is that of the state of emergency (which was instituted on March 16 and lasted until May 14, inclusive) plus another month after the one in which the state of emergency ceased (ie the postponement will could be requested for the whole month of June).
Regulations regarding the facilities granted for the payment of rents:
According to Law no. 60, tenants are defined as economic operators, practitioners of the liberal professions, legal entities under private law, whose activity has been interrupted or whose incomes or revenues have decreased by at least 15% in March 2020 compared to the average of the last calendar year in the period of application of the state of emergency, the individuals economically affected directly or indirectly during the period of application of the state of emergency, may postpone on request, without interest and penalties, payment of rent for the use of real estate registered as offices, work points or homes.
The payment of rents to landlords for the categories of tenants mentioned above will be made by the competent territorial fiscal authority, on behalf of the landlords at the request of the tenants.
The tenant’s request will be accompanied by the following:
- the lease contract between the lessor and the lessee;
- additional document between the lessor and the lessee to the lease contract, which will contain the following:
– the agreement of the parties for the postponement of the rent payment, the duration of the postponement period of the rent payment, the amount related to this postponement period;
– identification data of the lessor and the lessee;
– the data of the bank account of the lessor in which the payment is to be made by the competent territorial fiscal authority;
– date of signing and signatures of both parties;
any kind of act of the lessee that proves the impossibility of paying the rent in the period specified in the additional act between the lessor and the lessee.
In order to benefit from the postponement of the rent payment, the tenants must make available to the competent territorial fiscal authority any kind of justifying document attesting the impossibility of paying the rent within the period specified in the additional act between the lessor and the lessee.
It is important to specify that landlords who cumulatively meet the following conditions can apply for payment to the competent territorial fiscal operator:
- the monthly rent specified in the additional act between the landlord and the tenant is lower, at most equal to the rent from February 2020;
- the value of the monthly rent from the additional act is of maximum 10,000 RON for the economic operators for each location and maximum 2,000 RON for individuals for a single location.
The tenant’s request can also be submitted by e-mail to an e-mail address that will be displayed on the website of each territorial fiscal authority.
Assignment of the use of personal assets:
By derogation from the provisions of art. 84 paragraphs (1) – (3) of Law no. 227/2015 of the Fiscal Code, with subsequent amendments and completions, in 2020 are not taxable income income from the transfer of the use of real estate obtained on the basis of lease / sublease or usufruct contracts.
The taxpayers who benefit from the mentioned fiscal facility are those who reduce during 2020 the value of the use of the real estate, established in money and / or in kind, according to the contract concluded between the parties, by at least 30% compared to the value of the use of the real estate related to February 2020.
The period during which taxpayers can benefit from this provision is the period during which the decrease in the value of the use of the real estate was negotiated, but not more than December 31, 2020.
- Assignment of the use of goods (independent activities):
By derogation from the provisions of art.170 of Law no.227 / 2015, with subsequent amendments and completions, in 2020 it does not enter the annual calculation ceiling defined in art.170 par. (2) the equivalent value of the use of the real estate, established in money and / or in kind, according to the contract concluded between the parties, reduced by at least 30% compared to the equivalent value of the use of the real estate related to February 2020.
The above provisions also benefit individuals who in 2019 earned income from the transfer of the use of goods from a number of more than 5 leases and, starting with 2020, qualified these incomes in the category of income from independent activities.
- Assignment of the use of goods (profit tax payers, income tax on micro-enterprises):
In the case of taxpayers paying profit tax and those who owe the income tax to micro-enterprises, the income from the transfer of the use of real estate obtained under lease / sublease or usufruct contracts are taxable only in proportion of 80% of their value.
The taxpayers who benefit from this facility are those who reduce during 2020 the value of the use of real estate, established in money and / or in kind, according to the contract concluded between the parties, by at least 20% compared to the value of use of real estate for February 2020
We underline that the incomes for which they benefit from the previous provisions are only those incomes resulted from the contracts for which the taxpayers reduced the equivalent value of the use of the real estate.
The period during which taxpayers can benefit from the facility is the period during which the decrease in the value of the use of the real estate was negotiated, but not more than December 31, 2020.
Tenants who benefit from the provisions of art. 1 paragraph (1) – have postponed upon request the payment of rent for the use of buildings registered as premises, offices or homes – are obliged to pay monthly rents, whose payment has been postponed by additional act between lessor and lessee, to the competent territorial fiscal authority, which paid these rents to the lessor, in installments, in equal installments, after the period in which the payment was postponed, until December 31, 2020.
In case the tenants do not fulfill the mentioned obligation, the competent territorial fiscal authority proceeds to the forced execution of the unrecovered receivables, according to Law no. 207/2015 on the Fiscal Procedure Code, with subsequent amendments and completions.